Day 49

Breakdown camp, the sun is up! We are way to excited for any rendition of a legitimate breakfast. We want to get inside the park. Our park pass that we bought at the Carlsbad Caverns, NM (if you can remember that far back) works flawlessly, no entrance/parking/vehicle fee. We’re in.

About an hour or so drive to the Canyon area visitor center. We were told the back country office is located here and we have a fair amount of research to do. It happens immediately upon entering the park. We are struck by it’s beauty and immensity. Over 2 million acres of preserved natural wonder. How can we possibly do this place justice.

We make it a quarter of the way to the visitor center and spot some bison on the side of the road. Keep going and spot some closer, and even a small herd. We pull over and follow them into the trees. If this thing decided to charge at us we would be instantly disintegrated. This beast definitely weighs more than the car but we still got very close.

Back to the task at hand, the backcountry office is very informative in terms of suggesting routes and possible destinations. It is getting a bit late to gear up and head out on a multi-day, several mile trek. We decide to camp in established campgrounds for the night and head out first thing the next day. That was the plan until we found out the cost of the backcountry permits. Free!

Change of plans, is there somewhere we can get to tonight? Ribbon Lake is a 2.5 mile hike from the Artist Point parking lot. Perfect. We have successfully evaded another fee. We pick up a fishing license and plan on using that to kill some daylight before we hike out to camp.

Destination: Ice Lake. We hike out to it and all the way around it and the fishing potential looks grim, especially given the time of day. Back to the car, where we unknowingly locked the keys inside of it. So perfect. The girl hanging out in her car next to us provides us with a wire hanger and we get to scratching. Of course we have no idea what we are doing but about 45 minutes of desperately twisting and pulling and we get it popped open. No words to be said, let’s go.

Our hike out to Ribbon Lake is much less flat than we anticipated but it is still free camping. We make it out and promptly build a bonfire to smoke out the mosquitoes. The lake is beautiful and there is not a soul around us. Even the camp we passed just under a mile back looked deserted. Rory took his pole to the lake while I gathered fire wood. I walk out to check progress and the fish are jumping all over the place. Some trout will make the usual beans a little bit more interesting, nice work Rory.

Our bear fears have only increased as we are now isolated in the wilderness. I climb a tree and hang the food bag up as high as I can get it. We set up the tents upwind. Just try not to think about it. Good night.